A return to Goodwood is at the top of this week’s agenda for the Group 2 Celebration Mile.  Last year this race marked the return of the charismatic George Washington but nothing of his class looks to be present in the field this time round.  Jamie Spencer finished the mid-week Ebor meeting as top jockey and it may well pay to stick with his progressive mount Cesare in this race.  Despite the jockey’s best attempts to get him beaten last time at Ascot, he finished with a rare old rattle to score by 1 ½ lengths from Royal Oath with many of his opponents for this race in behind.  With form over course and distance he should have little trouble giving weight to the rest of the field.  The Group 3 Prestige Stakes for two-year-old fillies is another feature on the card and sees an intriguing match up between John Dunlop’s dual winner Muthabara and John Gosden’s exceptionally impressive Newmarket maiden winner Sense of Joy.  The former was pushed out to win the listed 7f Star Stakes at Sandown last time up beating Lady Deauville by ¾ of a length.  Lady Deauville went on to be third in the prestigious Prix du Calvados at Deauville.  Furthermore 5^th placed Kay Es Jay was then third in the Sweet Solera and 7^th placed Gypsy Baby ran a stormer in the valuable £300,000 St. Leger Stakes on Thursday to finish runner-up.  This abundance of good form coupled with the added experience should see Sheikh Hamdan’s horse triumph here.  One of only a half dozen meetings all year is being held at Cartmel on Saturday and one time smart flat performer Im Spartacus looks in good order to collect the feature prize on the card.  Ninth last time in the ultra competitive Summer Hurdle at Market Rasen, Evan William’s charge should take all the beating at this quaint venue in the Lake District.   

Selections:  3.10 Goodwood – 1 Cesare

                                                                        4.25 Cartmel – 3 Im Spartacus